Biggest Turn-Off's to Buyers? Turn-On's? (sales, offers, developer, state)

[VivaLaEvie]

Price price price price price. If a home is priced really well, you overlook a lot of flaws. "The yard is small, but at that price...." Whereas an overpriced home is just the opposite - "look at that tiny yard for this price." You will be very, very critical for a home that is priced high. Your brain just processes it that way.

[jaindow]

Originally Posted by Racelady88

Things I look for:

A roof that does not need to be replaced
Plumbing that does not need to be repaired/replaced
Electric that does not run through fuses
Windows that function correctly
Floors that do not feel like I am going to fall through due to water/termite damage

Things I cringe when I see:

Large trees with huge branches hanging over the house
Water stains on ceilings/under windows
Window unit air conditioners
Neighbors who's yard looks like Sanford & Son

In addition to these, I don't like to see cracks in walls.

[itscolduphere]

I was looking on the MLS this weekend and remembered I always wanted to post about what puts me off when looking at listings. I did a search and here's a thread already started some time ago. Maybe some of you are sitting on a house that won't sell and some of these things just could make a difference...
I tend to avoid being interested in listings sometimes for the smallest reasons!

1. If your photos show an uncovered kitchen garbage, I automatically think that's gross. I then start to wonder if you are a clean housekeeper or not, and how that may have affected the property.

2. If your photos show the toilet seat up, unconsciously may put someone off! (Just plain bad feng shui).

3. If your photos are blurry or wrong resolution, if people can't see your pictures clearly, it can mean your agent that took the pictures is careless. And if you allow the pictures on the MLS to remain that way, it may mean you also are careless... so were you careless when it came to home maintenance as well???

4. Candle on the kitchen island - are you covering up a mold smell??

5. No interior pictures - is your home so outdated that interior pictures would hurt the listing? If not, include some interior photos!!! Maybe some people think not showing interior photos will entice people to come and see in person... but I tend to pass these listings over...

6. Lampshades or pictures askew - take a minute to straighten things out...

7. Orbs - is the place haunted? If not, retake the photo

8. Gross showers - is your grout failing or stained.. has it caused water damage? Fix it.

9. Patched ceiling drywall - if you've had plumbing leaks in the past but they are fixed, you may want to invest in re-doing the ceiling drywall... I personally don't like the sight of a patched ceiling...

10. Sooty stains coming from ductwork - did you have an Aspergillis problem in your a/c and it stained the ceiling or carpet/flooring? Yukky.

11. Really horrible carpeting - This can be a wide variety of things, from badly worn, bad smelling, light colored carpet that's dark around baseboards (gross!), or just plain ugly colors (what many would consider as such... mauve, forest green, dark teal blue, etc.).

Does anyone have anything else to add to this list? Maybe it might help someone sell!

[cowboyxjon]

Originally Posted by itscolduphere

3. If your photos are blurry or wrong resolution, if people can't see your pictures clearly, it can mean your agent that took the pictures is careless. And if you allow the pictures on the MLS to remain that way, it may mean you also are careless... so were you careless when it came to home maintenance as well???

YES YES YES!
I'm a first-time homebuyer in Denver and I've been looking at a lot of properties and one thing I CAN'T STAND is when I find a listing (or my realtor sends me one) that contains pixellated, distorted photos. I understand the whole wide-angle lens thing, but I would rather see a clear picture. I mean, I'll realize the living room is a lot smaller than it looks in the picture once I go to see the house in person, so it's not like an ugly, blurry, pixellated picture is going to really help.

[dmwlakewylie]

When looking at MLS pictures, I don't like to see the house next door through a window. I think, ewwww the next door neighbors house is too close. In a neighborhood, I don't like to see RV's, boats, trailers. etc. parked in driveways. I also don't like dirty doors around handles, or smell animals or strong candles. Finally, I don't want to see electrical towers near the house or stains on the roof. I like to see freshly vacuumed carpets, the house clean, and lots of lights on.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by annerk

What are your biggest turn-off's when looking at a potential purcahse?

I know this is old but I had to address some of these things.

Mine are:

• The smell of cigarette smoke, cat urine, or curry (Several times I got to the door of a house and refused to go inside because I could smell one of those three)

It would depend on the "context" of the smell. Curry smell can be cleaned out. Yes, it can. Cigarette smoke; it would depend. If the smell is very faint, the house may have just been shown to a smoker, or smokers may live there but smoke outdoors. That is not a big deal to me. Cat urine...if it is coming from litter boxes, fine. Coming from carpet, no dice.

• Clutter on every flat surface or too much stuff all over the walls

I do not like clutter but it is not a dealbreaker to me when looking through a house. I can see past it.

• Closets that are jammed full of junk or not organized ( I want to see how big it is, and having stuff fall on me when I open a door isn't a good thing!)

Not a great thing, but again easy to look past unless the closet is completely jammed with stuff floor to ceiling, wall to wall.

• Pets not put outside or crated

Dogs yes, cats, get real. A lot of cats will howl or even spray if they are crated or confined. And most cats will run away from somebody that they do not know.

• Overgrown shrubbery blocking all light from entering windows

Sorry, but that sounds so extremely picky to me. It takes minutes to trim shrubbery. Would you really let that break the deal for you?

• Dirty or stained carpets (At least rent a Rug Doctor and get the carpet as clean as possible before listing and vacuum before showings)

I agree with cleaning carpets before putting the house on the market, but sometimes the carpets are at the end of their useful lives and have permanent stains, and if that is priced into the price of the house, then I can look past it.

• Advocado green appliances

Not the greatest thing in the world, but the age of those appliances would concern me more than the color. I would not be wild about a kitchen full of 30 year-old appliances in any color due to energy efficiency. Old fridges, stoves, and dishwashers suck a lot of power.

My "turn-on's" are:

• Smell of new paint in a cream/eggshell color (You might like your colonial blue paint in every room, I want something I can move into and change the color down the road)

You can paint colonial blue too.

• Empty or almost empty closets

If somebody lives in the house, that is totally unrealistic.

• No clutter, minimal wall hangings

I agree with this, but some people show their house on a moment's notice to please potential buyers. There is not always time to clear life's clutter.

• Sparkling clean--even on top of the door frames

If somebody looked at this house and gave negative feedback about dust on the top of door frames...then made an offer...I think I would be so irritated by that remark that I would refuse to negotiate. Sorry.

• Tidy yard with mowed lawn and trimmed shrubs

Nice to have, but a lawn can be mowed very easily.

• All the lights on--especially in closets--so I don't ahve to go hunting for them

Wow...it's so hard to find a light switch.

When I was selling my house, buyers like this were a total nightmare. Sorry, and this is nothing personal, but it annoyed me to no end that people expected a house that I lived in to be completely dust-free, odor-free, immaculately clean at all times with empty closets and lights blazing for a 5-hour showing window. Sorry, but no dice. My last house did sell for an insanely high price too and my buyers were pretty easy to deal with. I did have the house professionally cleaned top to bottom before they moved in, but they did not ask me to do it. I did it because I did not want to hand over my house dirty. Call it pride. But if I live in a house, it may have dust in areas that do not regularly get touched, like the tops of door frames.

[latergator2008]

I don't care how many times you say......"I can look past the dirty home and see the true quality" it is simply not true. Sellers kill themselves, the price they will get and length their home will be for sale by leaving it messy.

The single worst thing you can do when your home is for sale, bar none? Be home during a showing. It is a total, absolute 110% turnoff. Buyers feel imposing and uncomfortable and leave before they really got a chance to view the home. You, as the seller might think you will be there to point out key features, but as a buyer, you will not likely remember, as your focus is on "im intruding in this guy's home."

[whoisjongalt]

I hate bad remodels. I've been looking at places and I just turn and walk out when they have bad "updating". For example, a cool mid-century modern house with a bad 1980's oak kitchen or ...

paneling that's been painted
cheap pergo floors
cedar exteriors that have been painted rather than stained
siding (any kind of siding)
textured walls

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by latergator2008

I don't care how many times you say......"I can look past the dirty home and see the true quality" it is simply not true. Sellers kill themselves, the price they will get and length their home will be for sale by leaving it messy.

I have viewed only one property (to buy) that I would classify as a "hovel." I have seen a basket full of dirty clothes in the laundry room (that is where that belongs), childrens' toys shoved into a corner of a bedroom (sellers were probably in a hurry), dust on the china hutch in the dining room (they are taking that with them so who cares), a stack of magazines on the bathroom counter (big deal), etc.

I suppose it depends on what someone's definition of "clutter" is. In a kitchen for example it is not a big deal to see things like toasters, gadget crocks, coffee makers, blenders, etc. out on the counter because those are things that belong in a kitchen. If there are built-in bookshelves and they are completely full of books, again those are things that belong there. It does not bother me one bit. I have seen wall decor that as a Jew turned me off, such as walls covered in decorative crosses and pictures of Jesus and the virgin Mary everywhere, but I also realize that most people are Christian, not Jewish, and those items will most likely be going with the sellers. I am more concerned with all the holes in the wall those things leave behind. The house I ended up buying had two Christian religious plaques still stuck to a wall and a door when I moved in. 5 minutes and a screwdriver took care of them.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by whoisjongalt

I hate bad remodels. I've been looking at places and I just turn and walk out when they have bad "updating". For example, a cool mid-century modern house with a bad 1980's oak kitchen or ...

paneling that's been painted
cheap pergo floors
cedar exteriors that have been painted rather than stained
siding (any kind of siding)
textured walls

I agree with most of that, especially cheap pergo floors! Ugh! I saw one flip house that had the cheapest laminate flooring I had ever seen. It was the kind that if you spill a glass of water on it, it gets bubbles on it. It had gaps in the floor itself, nicely displaying the house's slab foundation problem, and gaps by the wall where they cut the boards too short and the gap was not covered by the toe molds. They also did a bad skip trowel finish in every single room. Ugh! The most outrageous thing about that house was the price per square foot was as high as other houses in the same neighborhood that had a much better finish. The sellers had to knock the price down on that place again and again before it finally sold.

Textured walls are not a turnoff for me though, it depends on the texture. I have never seen walls in a house that are smooth as glass; all of them have had a texture of some kind. Painted paneling is very common in these older houses too. My den has paneling that has been painted.